


The Red Butterfly

by DaisyNinjaGirl



Series: The Tenner [2]
Category: Ancient Chinese Religion & Lore
Genre: F/M, The Tenner, the silk road
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24652039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyNinjaGirl/pseuds/DaisyNinjaGirl
Summary: Day One - ChrysalisThe Emperor of Khotan said that he needed no gold or jewels for her dowry, nor tea, nor jade. But should she bring the secret of silk with her, why then she would be first of his wives until the end of time...
Relationships: Chinese Princes/Emperor of Khotan
Series: The Tenner [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1680610
Kudos: 1
Collections: The Tenner





	The Red Butterfly

_Edward Farthing leaned forward in his chair, his eyes intent behind spectacles that shone like moons. He pulled from his suit pocket a fine silken handkerchief, a lady’s handkerchief with delicate lace around the edges, and smirked slightly at the question in the eyes of the audience._

**The Red Butterfly**

“I tell a story of ancient China,” he said. "Long ago, long before the Silk Road travelled both ways, before Xuanzang brought the great texts from India, before the ways of Christ were known in the Far East, long before any of that, the Empire of China was the centre of the world and they knew it. Barbarians would come to the Middle Kingdom and bring gifts of tribute: furs and silver and grain and meat from the howling winds of the north; in return the Emperor would gift them with the fruits of being civilised. Tea that they might drink, eternal jade, and great rolls of cloth that rippled in the breeze: silk. The barbarians, who did not rightly know how to speak, would often ask for the secrets of these things and always they would be denied. They would offer the Emperor’s advisors great bribes - and the corruption of the Emperor’s court was legendary, but to no avail.

"But then a day came when another Emperor, the ruler of mountainous Khotan, did not send a messenger, he came to the middle earth himself. He showed the Emperor of China how they might be as brothers or as a father to a son, how traders might travel through the mountains under his own protection. It wanted nothing more than a family arrangement to seal the deal. The Emperor of China liked this arrangement, for how better might the glory of his empire be known, and selected his favourite daughter to trade off. But he made a mistake - he let his son-in-law-to-be converse with the girl and the Emperor of Khotan said that he needed no gold or jewels for her dowry, nor tea, nor jade. But should she bring the secret of silk with her, why then she would be first of his wives until the end of time.

“Whether this girl, this princess, acted solely to bring herself some softnesses in her mountain home - or whether she felt some spite towards her father for selling her away from the Middle Kingdom, who can say? But she hid the silk worms in her hair, and the mulberry seeds in her medicine chest, and the knowledge of how to spin silk in the person of her maidservant and thus the world received the gift that is silk.”

_Farthing held the handkerchief against the flickering light of the fire and watched the flames shine through the translucent cloth. With one sharp gesture he tossed it into the hearth. “And so it goes.”_


End file.
